I don’t know if this belongs here. And I don’t know what happened to me or where I was but as of right now i’m writing this alone in my house. I haven’t told my friends about it. In fact I don’t think I told anyone at all yet. I’ve just been too freaked out to do so. But here’s my story.
yesterday, me and my friends (we’re all freshman in college) Decided It would be fun to go diving in a pond and fishing. Since we had nothing better to do at campus, I was more than willing to go anywhere. We grabbed a few cans of coke and chips to take with us. I don’t know who but apparently someone brought along some beers too.
At about 10 AM or something in the afternoon, all six of us left for the pond, Me, not having a car yet having to be driven along three of my friends. Luckily the lake was only about 2 miles from where I got picked up as we reached the old parking lot lying behind the park in no time. We got out, grabbed fishing poles, foldable chairs, drinks, and food from the trunks setting our little “campsite” on this chipped and musty dock hanging over the water.
my friend, we will call him Adam, dipped his hand in the water, “Damn dude its pretty cold” he explained to us. We decided to wait for it to warm up as the day progressed and continued fishing instead. Ill spare you some details here but long story short, we caught a few basses, some blue gills, even had a turtle nip the hook holding the bait off. It was actually a pretty fun time.
But as the day progressed and the water warmed up from the suns glares, we all decided to go jumping in together right from the dock. We all knew how to swim, and we were very well aware of how deep the water could actually be but decided, Fuck it. Im going in.
Splash. We all jumped in at once after the count of three. You know when you cannonball into a pool or lake and you can feel the water almost slap you and get up your nose? Well something was different. something was off for me. It felt almost as if instead of blaming through the water, I sank slowly like I was in a pit of jello or quicksand. Confused of what was going on, I thrashed around in the water trying to pull myself up. I could see the surface of the water getting closer and closer then bam, I was at the bottom again. After countless attempts of trying to swim towards the light I came to the realization I was perfectly fine holding my breathe for this long. And keep in mind it felt like 4 or so minutes.
I also could see very clearly. As if my eyes were made to see in the murky green lake I was trapped in. I panicked. I couldn’t breathe, but at the same time, I somehow felt no urge to. trying once again to swim up to the surface, the invisible anchor chaining me to the bottom seemed to almost tighten. Each time I tried to swim up the surface looked like it got further away from me.
Panic set in. I was trapped. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t breathe, yet I still lived, my eyes were wide open in the water, yet I saw clear as day. and eventually. the light at the surface of the water disappeared and I was trapped with nothing but dark green, the slimy ground my feet rested on, and my own thoughts.
what felt like hours went by, of me stuck at the bottom. Wanting to cry, wanting to wake up and this torture to all be a horrible dream. But nothing changed. For days. I didn’t feel the need to sleep, I didn’t feel the need to use the bathroom or eat or even drink. It was like I was stuck on pause. For I could move nothing but my eyes.
I wondered what my friends were thinking of me, I wondered if they too were experiencing the same thing. I thought of my family, almost accepting the fact that I probably wouldn’t see them again. I longed for just one glimpse of something other than that damn green water. For not even fish showed up beside me. Ever. It was like I was the only living soul around.
what felt like weeks turned to what felt like months. I day dreamed about being with my friends and family, day dreamed I was fine and in a place where I could move, eat, and breathe. I became almost unaware of my surroundings. Growing mad from lack of human contact and light I reviewed. voices in my head whispered words I could not describe. colored lights flickered in my vision and I began to forget what life even looked like. I almost grew accustomed to the green environment stripped to nothing but the mind of a slug. I lost my thoughts, I lost my sense of touch and time. I didn’t feel anything. But I knew I still existed. I just existed alone, unable to move, or do anything.
I wished that this would end. Wished more than anything to drown, giving up hope of ever being anybody on Earth again. What seemed like an endless eternity of darkness suddenly stopped. And for the first time in what felt like months, I could feel pain in my chest. Getting worse by the minute. I woke up from my “dream” sate ( I don’t know what to call it). Hopeful and glad for the first time in my life I was running out of air in my lungs. I could feel again.
My arms could move. And my eyes actually began to sting. I hoisted myself up the water with a burst of adrenaline upwards. Searching desperately for the surface. I could move again. But it felt weird. Unnatural. And yet I hadn’t forgotten how. I saw no light. No change in color. The water was almost infinite and I felt like my lungs were about to burst. I closed my eyes begging to be let free. Begging to get out of this water. And it somehow worked. The water, all at once seemed to vanish, and I was left soaking wet, heaving heavily on what looked to be a large, quarts platform.
Was I dead? I didn’t know. But it sure didn’t feel like I was. I hoisted myself up crying in relief, seeing the first glimpse of something other than water and mud for what felt like forever. I yelled for my friends, for anyone almost crying. Not caring to who I was yelling to or how I ended up here in the first place. No one answered back. The quartz platform lead to a marble bridge extended over what looked to be the most crystal clear water I ever saw. The walls a burly white marble texture with huge, stained glass windows.
giant, white pillars extended through the water from above. It seemed where I was to be so tall, I couldn’t even see the ceiling. Clocks of all shapes and sizes lined the pillars, their arms spinning like a top and their ticks echoing through the near endless, giant room. nobody answered when I called out. Nobody was in sight at all.
I began to feel more panicked. Worried that the marble bridge had no end. And I was stuck once again. I didn’t dare to jump over into the water. To afraid of what happened last time. So kept on walking. Begging to get out and see someone, anyone, again.
a huge grandfather clock, about like 20 feet tall lied at the end of the marble bridge. A wooden doors attached to it under the actual clock part. I tried to run, but I couldn’t. It was as if I had no strength left. And besides. The marble bridge was already slippery from the water so I was cautious trying to make my way across.
When I finally made my way to the clock, I collapsed on the floor. Crying. For who know how long. I calmed myself down attempting to pull the door on the huge clock open. And just like that, it swung open with a breeze. Nothing but bright, blinding white light. I stepped inside, wanting to be anywhere but where I had been. the room around me almost seemed to spin around.
It felt as though I had been inside a giant top being spun on the table.Almost as if I was in an endless free fall. Water curled around me like a snake. I couldn’t breathe anymore. I think I tried to scream, desperate to not be stuck for eternity at the bottom of that stupid lake. With all my might I swam upwards, For the first time, in forever I could see the surface of the water. I pushed upwards breaking the surface with a sputter.
Surprisingly, so did my friends. I forgot my surroundings, I forgot we were near a wooden dock, I forgot it was morning and why we came here in the first place. I yelled to my friends in relief pulling myself onto the dock almost crying. “Dude You good?” Adam asked me. He too had now hoisted himself out of the water. I. hugged him. “Ay bro, the fuck happened in there?” He asked. Everyone else looked at me like I was bizarre.
“You guys experienced that too?”
“What? The jump?” Confusion set over me. I knew I had spent months down there. I knew it. Yet, everything looked the same as it was when I left.
“How long was I in the water?” I muttered.
“About as long as us. Like uhh.. A minute?” nobody had no idea what happened or why I sounded so hysterical. Here I am, having been what felt like an eternity under that damn lake when in Reality I had apparently been gone for a minute. embarrassment, confusion, and fear were the only emotions I could feel. So I left. Left without saying anything else but “I don’t feel good.” I exclaimed. I walked to a bus stop. Not having a car, a bus would be my only chance to leave.
the rest is just random stuff you probably don’t wanna hear. But long story short, a bus came, drove me to campus, and I fell asleep. That was all 2 days ago. As of right i’m writing this in the library. I didn’t tell my friends what happened. They all thought I was actually sick. I don’t know where I was, I don’t know how I felt like I was trapped at the bottom f the lake for month on end only to be actually gone for about a minute. I don’t know why or what caused this, but to this day, i’m never going back to that lake again.